Freedom of expression and agility are not for coffee break

What do freedom of speech and agile working methods have to do with each other?

The development of excellent solutions and business models requires that a culture of openness, transparency, honesty, patience and humility is established in the companies & teams. Are we living in an “offended generation”? Do we not address issues out of misconceived politeness, shame or fear so as not to offend or embarrass anyone? Are we willing to stand up for values even if it costs us something?

Four of the Agile values are as follows:

• Communication: the people orientation means solving all solvable problems in the team. This happens through close communication and creativity.
• Courage: agile work involves trying out new things and discarding those that don’t work. This failure is nevertheless a gain: it makes us smarter.
• Openness: this includes being open to what others have to say (internally and externally); it also includes going through the learning process together. If openness is missing, some will close themselves off and no fruitful culture for agile working will get off the ground.
• Respect: to get into agile working, respect towards colleagues is needed. For now, there is no “right” or “wrong” from the gut. Everything has validity and we measure what works better.

Values of freedom of speech

• Ahmed Salman Rushdie’s defense of freedom of expression is a classic; he rightly argues that freedom of expression also means the right to offend others. “The idea that any kind of free society can be constructed in which people are never offended or insulted is absurd.” He continues. A fundamental decision must be made: Do we want to live in a free society or not? Democracy is not a coffee party where people sit around and have polite conversations. In democracies, people get extremely upset with each other. They argue vehemently against each other’s positions. People have the fundamental right to have an argument to the point where someone is offended by what they say.
• You don’t believe in freedom of speech unless you give others the right to offend you with what they say.  The case for free speech goes back to the Reformation when Martin Luther stood up to about 1000 years of church control and asserted his right to disagree with popes and councils. The biblical teaching of the priesthood of all believers opened the door to freedom of conscience and expression.
• George Orwell put it this way: “If freedom means anything at all, it is the right to tell people exactly what they don’t want to hear. That is worth repeating: If liberty means anything at all, it is the right to tell people precisely what they do not want to hear.
• John Locke argued that reason was essential to knowing reality and part of who we are as individuals. The freedom to think, interact, criticize, and discuss is essential to the common good.

Both freedom of expression and agile working methods have in common that you communicate with each other with openness and courage and must not lose mutual respect if you want to be successful as a community.

Have courage, openness, show respect, endure headwinds. Sail hard on the wind. When we go new ways we can expect difficulties and criticism.